Chemical Diversity and Chemical Ecology

This section has two components, one aimed at deepening our understanding of the chemical diversity in nature and the other focused on the role of chemical compounds in mediating interactions within and between organisms.

Chemical Diversity is devoted to improving our understanding of the diversity of natural chemical compounds in nature, especially those of systematic, ecological, and functional significance, but also metabolites of medicinal, cosmetic, nutritional, forensic, toxicological, or commercial importance.

Papers dealing with known or new compounds (such as new source reports) are acceptable if they provide novel chemosystematic or ecological insights. Research papers describing multiple samples or populations, including the use of multivariate approaches and metabolomics, are especially welcome, as are papers dealing with biochemical pathways that may throw new light on the underlying causes of diversity. Reviews of families, genera, or species should be comprehensive, both in terms of the taxa and the geographical area covered, as well as the literature, and must be explicit about new insights and the knowledge gaps that have been revealed. Rigorous and reliable methods of identification are essential—indirect techniques such as phytochemical profiling and spot tests are discouraged.

Reports on the variation and pharmacognostic value of constituents that are relevant to developing or standardizing new crops and new natural products will also be considered.

Chemical Ecology is devoted to promoting an ecological understanding of the origin, function, and significance of natural chemicals that mediate interactions within and between organisms. Such relationships, often adaptively important, comprise the oldest of communication systems in terrestrial and aquatic environments.

We suggest that papers should contain both chemical and ecological/behavioral elements. Papers should have an ecological rationale, sufficient breadth (avoiding a regional focus), and novelty in order to gain an international readership.

Mechanistic approaches may include the identification, biosynthesis, and metabolism of substances that carry information and the elucidation of receptor and transduction systems using physiological, biochemical, and molecular techniques.

Papers describing the structure and functional morphology of organs involved in chemical communication will also be considered.